Heh, I am not exaggerating-I like seafood, but...I hate fishy things. Despise the “fish” taste!
I was at a fancy party, just like that one, and a person carrying a tray asked if I would like some caviar, and I admit I didn’t know what it was at the time, only that it was something rich and and “sophisticated” people ate.
So I tried one, and I couldn’t spit it out fast enough, couldn’t get the taste out of my mouth! If I had had a single iota less “propriety”, I would have grabbed a napkin as he did, and scrubbed my tongue with it!
LOL!! I can imagine the scene by your description. I hate even going through the seafood/fish section at the grocery store. The smell makes me want to gag.
I worked as a Correctional Officer and Sergeant in NY State's prison system for 25 years. I worked in max and medium facilities. The last prison I worked at before I retired was medium security, with housing units where each unit had a fridge, and microwave. Hispanic inmates were partial to octopus or squid, which they could buy in a can from the commissary. They would make some kind of rice and bean dish with it.
As Sergeant I had to make rounds to each unit in the buildings I was supervising, speak to the officers in charge, and sign each unit's log book. I can't tell you how many times I had to hold my breath when I walked on a unit, because somebody had just nuked octopus or squid. It would hit you in the face when you walked in. I can only compare it to the horrible smell that periodically came from Tobin's Packing Company that was a couple of blocks from where I grew up in Rochester, New York. We called it the slaughter house. I don't know what they were doing that caused such a terrible smell, but it was so rancid that it made you want to hold your breath to prevent yourself from having to smell it. To me, that's what that octopus/squid smelled like when the inmates cooked it. I can tell you I didn't linger long on a unit when that horrible smell was in the air. I've been retired for 20 years, and can still remember how bad that smell was.